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CHILD GUIDANCE CLINICS
I am grateful to Dr. R. P. M. Urquhart, Medical Director for the following report:
The past year has been characterised by change in the Clinic, changes in staff and the awareness
of impending change, both in organisation and in the provision of premises for work. While it has
been possible for the staff to learn by collaboration and discussion what the established members
and newcomers each had to offer and to develop the service provided, the lack of information
or final decision on the part of government, local and national, as to the future of such clinics
and the Uxbridge premises proved a source of considerable frustration.
Through the repeatedly mentioned shortage of secretarial help, detailed statistics of the year's
work are not available for comments. There has been, however, an impression that other agencies are
more ready to recognise the usefulness of the clinic as a source for consultation over problems, as a
more economical and effective approach in some instances than the referral of a child as the ostensible
problem. We have welcomed direct approaches in this way from medical officers, health
visitors, staff of the social services department and probation officers. Such an approach is also
being used by teachers in certain schools, and this will be referred to more fully in next year's report,
as it has only been developing in the latter part of the year.
The potential of the clinic for teaching has been referred to in previous reports. While in-service
training of students of the professions represented in the clinic is limited by lack of space, the
psychotherapists have continued to make appropriate progress. At the end of the year we were
informed that Miss R. Kerbekian had proceeded to the point where she could start seeing children
individually in psychotherapy. The clinic has been used more this year than ever before to take part
in the health department's courses for student nurses, and this has been a welcome opportunity
to make the work of the clinic better understood. Dr. Urquhart spoke to a meeting of medical officers
in the health department in April, and, perhaps partly as a result of this, we have had better contacts
with them since, and easier discussion of children's problems by Clinic staff.
The clinic has been fortunate in the new appointments made and taken up during the year.
Mr. T. Ballantyne, psychiatric social worker, who had experience recently of working in a social
service department, joined the staff on 1st January and has worked to understand his role in a new
setting, at the same time furthering discussion of the scope of social work. The contribution of
Mrs. N. Brice, who started work on the same day as an educational psychologist, has been stimulating
also, bringing as she did a wide range of expertise in her own field. The psychotherapy side was
considerably strengthened by the appointment of Dr. David Campbell, who had trained in the United
States and since July has added a fresh perspective and flexibility in approach.
We have to note with regret the loss in July of the services of Miss V. Hamilton, psychotherapist,
whose sensitive clinical perception was matched by a scholarly grasp of theory. She had an important
review article published in the British Journal of Medical Psychology. We greatly miss Mrs. Rosemary
Brand, who made the difficult job of social worker to the maladjusted schools worthwhile and understandable
to the schools and parents. She left in October to have a child. The retirement of Miss
A. C. Dunne in July from the post of psychologist at the Hayes Clinic meant the loss of a widely
popular and respected colleague, and we are not surprised that she has been pressed into working
at clinics in Cambridgeshire.
There has been more active clinical discussion during the year, and greater sophistication in the
help offered to children and families. It has been possible to offer psychotherapy to some more
severely disturbed children with evident benefit, and greater use has been made of family interviews.
Dr. Urquhart was elected during the year to the Regional Committee of the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, and also Chairman of the Tavistock Group of Clinic Directors.
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